Holy Family Home and Shelter Inc (HFHS Homeless Services)

It is with a grateful heart that I announce that after 22 years I will be resigning from my position as lead case manager at Holy Family Home and Shelter in Willimantic CT.  I have been offered a position as a care ambassador that will utilize my skills  and I am both happy and sad to be moving forward.  I will always be thankful for all that I have experienced and learned at Holy Family.  I am incredibly proud to be a member of this community.  Everyone should have a home and I will always continue to fight this fight.  To all of you who I have worked with through the years thank you for all the moments we have shared.  I will miss this place and so many people.  The goal of this fundraiser is based on leaving my legacy of a $1000 security deposit for each of the 7 families that are in shelter today.  I’d like to house as many as possible before my 6/17/21 exit.  Please share freely and thank you all❤️

My name is Christina.  I’m the lead case manager at Holy Family Shelter in Willimantic.  This shelter serves families with children and single women when they have no where else to go.  Our shelter remains fully operational through the covid-19 crises. We are operating on a very reduced staff so that our most vulnerable staff members can work from home and stay safe.

Im writing this story from my desk at the shelter.  We currently have 8 guests.  We are working very hard in the community with families that are on the edge of needing shelter beds but are trying not to enter shelter in the middle of this virus.  Our bed capacity must reduce at this time in order for us to allow our guests to maintain safe living and sleeping distance .

My dream right now is to be able to house the group the shelter currently has.   It is hard to stay at home when you don’t have a home.   This would also allow me to give our weary staff a brief one week or so respite to rest, to stay home and stay safe.   I would take that time to clean and sanitize everything and rearrange spaces for the next group that needs us.  We are all thankful to be working but we work with uncertainty today.  We can only stay open as long as our small staff can remain healthy.

Holy Family Shelter is grateful, thankful and blessed.  I thank each and every person who has called to check on us, dropped off or sent essential items like over the counter medicines, paper products, food and financial support.  Our director of donations and Volunteers is safely staying home to save lives but she joins me in thanking those who have helped us.  So many people have reached out to ask if we need help, I finally decided to provide a safe platform for those of you willing and able to help.

Holy Family Shelter plans to continue to do the work we have done in this community since 1989.  We plan to help the homeless through this uncertain time and anticipate that we will have to work even harder as these times are difficult for a lot of people right now.

Anyone experiencing homelessness should call 211 option 3 than option 1 for a safe call back assessment.

The staff of Holy Family Home and Shelter urges those who can to stay home and save lives.  We are all in this together 

Christina

CYCLE OF LIFE

Dear family, friends, colleagues, coworkers, neighbors and community members.

My name is Mark Fisherkeller and I am known in different ways to near all of you.  Our family has lived in Willimantic and Willington for over thirty- five years.  Last May I retired from medical practice.  For thirty- five years I have been a cardiologist serving our communities, Windham Hospital, our physician staff and community.  My family and medical vocation has been my life achievement.

 Since retirement I have pursued other interests: bicycling, sailing, courses at ECSU and working part time in Kalispell Montana. This is the hospital where daughter Rachel works as a pediatric surgical APRN.

 I plan a new challenge this summer.  I will bicycle from Anacortes Washington to Glacier National Park as a fund raiser to assist our Holy Family Home and Shelter and to experience the beauty of this part of our country.  The ride will take me thru the width of Washington, upper Idaho and the western third of Montana and approximately 1000 miles.  My ride will be unsupported and for the most part solo.  This means riding alone between 30-100 miles/day (there is a 50-mile mountain climb in Washington) camping, some motels, fixing flats, bike repairs, talking to myself and those I meet and seeing this magnificent part of our country at between 5-25 mph.  After Glacier I will return to Whitefish for the birth of our first grandchild.

 So why would I want to do this?  I have loved bicycling since day when dad gave me my first bike in Pittsburgh in third grade.  I later rode that bike to and from grade school and took bike hikes with friends.  A bicycle was my transportation for medical school in Philadelphia.  Early in my career I would ride Rachel to daycare at Windham Hospital in a small towed trailer.  A favorite activity, riding with family and friends, has long been a source of socialization, recreation, exploration and at times therapy.  When seated in a saddle the sensation of being a young boy with freedom to search for adventure has never left me.  As a physician cycling has been a source of exercise and fitness when running was no longer possible.  I have long wanted to take a bike trip across our country.  Having achieved 70 years and retirement it is time.

 And why would I have us support The Holy Family Home and Shelter?  The Sisters of Charity and staff, and what they do is a part of the fundamental goodness and humanity of Willimantic.  For thirty years they have provided meals, housing, assistance and education to our most vulnerable people in need, especially young mothers.  The shelter relies on the sisters, volunteerism, grants, anonymous helpers and God daily to continue their mission.  My personal perspective of the kindness, love and generosity of the Sisters was formed as they helped to shape me.  I lived four years with the Sisters of Mercy and Sisters of St. Joseph in grade school.  They are part of me and I am forever indebted.

 “We will not be judged by how may diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many good things we have done.  We will be judged by, “ I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat.  I was naked and you clothed me.  I was homeless and you took me in.”   Mother Teresa

 I am grateful for your support of this bicycle trip, this cycle of life.

Mark Fisherkeller M.D.